The Lowy Institute

In this lecture under the Lowy Institute's Canberra Food for Thought series, leading nuclear expert Professor Scott Sagan of Stanford University weighs up the achievements and the challenges ahead for the Obama nuclear agenda. This event, moderated by the Lowy Institute's Rory Medcalf, was supported by the Lowy Institute's partnership with the Nuclear Security Project of the Nuclear Threat Initiative. In 2009 President Obama began an ambitious bid to reduce the threat posed by nuclear weapons globally. Critics have labelled this unrealistic, but US efforts have made notable progress, including an arms-reduction treaty with Russia, a successful 2010 conference to support the Non-Proliferation Treaty, new limits on the roles of US nuclear weapons, and fresh global cooperation on securing nuclear facilities against terrorists. In this lecture under the Lowy Institute's Canberra Food for Thought series, leading nuclear expert Professor Scott Sagan of Stanford University weighs up the achievements and the chall